COLUMN: Distraction and attraction — the woes of being a female sportswriter
Second and eight, the huddle breaks and the Packers take position on the field.
The breeze is light and the sun is glistening off the yellow helmets. Wide receiver Donald Driver cuts to the left side as the ball is snapped and you can feel a pass play about to commence.
Brett Favre has the ball, he is back peddling with such grace, like a gazelle. He looks left, he looks right, pulls back his arm for that perfect pass and WOW what an arm he has. Muscles large and defined perfectly sculpted to toss a football yards at a time. And speaking of body parts those pants definitely enrapture the senses.
Suddenly I am aware of myself again as the crowd is stammering to its feet and cheering with such explosion I have no choice but to return to
reality.
Driver had meandered his way away from Chicago defense and was currently tucking in the ball that had so skillfully landed into his hands for a superb 85-yard touchdown catch.
I realize this isn’t the first time I’ve missed something big, nor will it be the last.
As much as intensity and anticipation build up excitement for sporting events there will always be distractions.
There will always be those athletes out there who, no matter their vast quantities of skill nor their immense talent will continually succumb to the plain and obvious fact that they are hot and look spectacular in their uniform.
This in turn becomes a difficulty for one particular female who chooses to report on sporting events.
Trained as a writer and sports lover from my youth, one might think this a trivial weakness.
In reality however, it is a handicap which I believe besets many writers that cover events performed by the opposite sex.
Handicap or not, as a reporter it is a necessity to ingrain the arousing events of the game and not the sex appeal into your mind.
None the less, I, as most of you out there are human and will fall, occasionally fall into the natural distractions inherent to the realm of sports.
Whether it is the smile of Andre Agassi that causes me to miss the winning serve against Pete Sampras, or the perfectly cut calves of the opposing team that inflict my eyes to missing a perfect play by an Aggie athlete, it is inevitable I will not see every great play that happens in a single sporting event.
Statistics, being in my favor, show that the likelihood of any spectator, coach, orator or reporter catching all the amazing phenomena in a game is slim to none.
Though there are many distractions and much commotion coming from an explosive crowd that would fascinate anyone intent on watching the game, it is the distracting players I find most vexing.
Ailed by other more personal dilemmas with the game, male reporters of such find it no easier to maintain a constant focus and personally view all the action occurring.
However, though many distractions may come, this reporter is very glad her distraction is what it is.
Controllable and amenable, the handicap that plagues me occasionally becomes a beautiful benefit.
Bridget Bybee is a junior majoring in art. Comments can be sent to
bridget@cc.usu.edu.